by Rob Douglas

The Federal Trade Commission released advice for consumers this week on how to be safer in 2009.

The FTC press release contains nine consumer tips.  The first four are particularly relevant to protecting yourself from identity theft:

Get a free copy of your credit report.  Visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call 877-322-8228 to request a free credit report, once every 12 months from each of the nationwide consumer credit reporting companies. AnnualCreditReport.com is the only site consumers can depend on for a truly free credit report with no strings attached. To learn more about credit, mortgages, debt collection, and other financial issues visit www.ftc.gov/credit.

Stay safe online. The Internet provides access to information, entertainment, financial offers – in short, a world of countless products and services. But unless security software is used and kept up-to-date, consumers can be left vulnerable to scammers, identity thieves, phishers, and more. Computer security is available – in plain language – at www.onguardonline.gov.

Deter identity theft. Information packages at www.ftc.gov/idtheft can help deter, detect, and defend against ID theft, and minimize the damage it can cause. Consumers who are concerned that they may be a victim of identity theft can visit www.ftc.gov/idtheft or call 877-ID-THEFT.

Foil a phone fraudster. Criminals use the phone to commit many different types of fraud, including sweepstakes and lottery frauds, loan fraud, buying club memberships, and credit card scams. Find out how to avoid them at www.ftc.gov/phonefraud.

If you’d like to see all nine consumer tips from the FTC, please click –> here.